Coupling



G. SHAPIRO July 1l, 1950 COUPLING 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 1,9, 1946 INVENTOR.

GUSTAVE SHAPIRO ATTORNEY July 1l, 1950 G. sHAPlRo 2,514,420

COUPLING Filed March 19, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.4

lN V EN TOR. GUSTAVE SHAPI RO ATTORNEY Patented July 11, 1950 v'UNF-TED STATES PATENT OFFICE COUPLING Gustave Shapiro, Asbury Park, I.N.- J. i

Application March 19, 1946, Serial'No. `655541 3 claims. (Ci. 74-sa (Granted under the act of March 13, 1883, 'as amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. l757) lThe invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

The present invention relates to couplings, and .more particularly to couplings for joining two rotatable members together so that they may turn anequal number of revolutions .over aperiod 0f time but may have different angular velocities at various times during their operation.

Needs have arisen, in `connection with divers electronic devices, for a coupling means through which an :output shaft may be rotated by an input shaft in such a manner that, if the input shaft has a constant angular velocity,the output shaft may have a variable angularl velocity, and vice versa, and also, if the input shaft has a variable angular velocity, the output shaft may have a dierent angular velocity. It is also convenient Lthat such a coupling means be readily adi justable so lthat a suitable relationship between .the angular velocities of the two shafts may be accomplished -by simple and rapid means, and preferably without the necessity ofinterchanging parts.

Itis therefore lan object of the present invention to provide an adjustable coupling means for two shafts which will transmit varying angular velocities therebetween.

It is also an object to provide such a` means which `is relatively small in size, light `in weight .and -able to withstand relatively high angular velocities. y

v-lt is a further object to provide such a means which may bereadily adjusted from the outside, making it unnecessary to take it apart or to remove itfrom its operatingpostion.

lIt is still another object to vprovide-an embodiment of such a means which may be adjustable through 180 without the use of external gearing means.

It is yet another object to provide another embodiment of such a-rneans which is adjustable through 360 without the necessity of using external gears or the like.

lIt is another object to provide such a means which is reversible and is not subject to vobjectionable backlash in either direction.

It is still a further object to provide -such a coupling means wherein the input and output shafts may be interchanged.

These and other objects of the present invention, which will be better understood .as the detailed description progresses, are obtained in the :following manner:

at an eccentric positionfthereof.. The outer ends of said arms are V.in turn .pivotably secured `to each othenthrough a camv follower. `YThus it will be seen thata cam linkage is formed so that/if the cam follower is movedrinwardly. towardV the axis of the shafts, the -inner ends Vofthe two cam arms will-movefurther` apartrsol as to cause rela;- tiverotation between-the shafts and, ii the' cam follower is fmoved, outwardly` away Vfrom the aiiis of the shafts, the shafts will also 4'be caused to rotate relative to eachl other but in `opposite directions tothose lwheny the follower 'is moved inwardly. SpringA means are also provided to urge the cam follower outwardly away from the axis ofthe-shafts. j I fur-ther providea cam toguide the 'cam v'follower inwardly land outwardly so as to yobtain a desired relationship betweengt'he angular velocities of the two shafts. Said cam may of course be of xed coniigur'ation and other cams of other configurations .may b e interch'angedffor saidvv cam to obtain other relationships. However, my invention further provides for a cam which is a flexible `strip andwhichisgiven a desired `configuration by-suitable adjusting means. Thus said adjusting means may be operated to give 'the said cam stripfany one ofy a plurality of configu-v rations to suit different purposes. Although the camillustrated lin vthe drawings isl given suitable configurations by adjusting means which are :merely screw-threaded members extending through -a housing, any other suitable adjusting means may be'.substituted-.` h

In the accompanying -speciiication there are described,y andi inthe annexed drawings shown, what `are at the present timey considered pre; ferr-.ed embodiments of my-,present invention. `It isV however to be understood that my present invention is not limited to saidjembodiments'but may well be incorporated in other embodiments and utilized in many applications.

In said rdrawings, Figure l1 is an elevational view-:partly cut away` and sectioned vertically through the axis, of a coupling embodying the present invention, wherein adjustmentof angular velocity through a1180 cycleis possible; Figure 2 is a view, from the right side of Figure 1-, with the housing rii-lgrand cover plateremoved to expose the interior; ,Figur-e' 3 is anelevational view `similar tofFig ure 1, partly cut away and partly sectioned vertically through the axis, but illustrating only one form of central assembly for connecting the input and output shafts so that they are maintained concentrically and rotatable relative to each other; and

Figure 4 is a View similarto Figure 1 of. a modified form of coupling wherein variation of angular velocity through a 360 cycle is possible.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the preferred form of coupling illustrated in Figures 1-3 includes a generally cylindrical, cupshaped housing II. A housing ring I3 nests snugly within the open end o f said housing I I so as to form a cam channel I5 extending around the inner surface of said housing I I. A plurality of cam adjusting screws I9 are positioned radially through the wall of the housing II so that their inner ends may extend into the cam channel I5 and may act as a limiter for outward movement of a cam strip I1.

The said cam strip I1 is loosely positioned in the said cam channel I5 and is a ring of flat exible material, preferably metal, which is of lesser perimeter than the perimeter of the channel I5 and preferably of no greater perimeter than the perimeter of a smooth curve connecting `the inner ends of all of the adjusting screws I9 when they are screwed inwardly to their innermost operating positions.

The spaced ends of an input shaft 2l and output shaft 23 are joined together coaxially by a central assembly (see particularly Figure 3) which includes an input member 25 and an output member 21.

Said input member 25 is generally tubular but is of several different outside diameters and inside diameters alongv its length. Its inner end terminates in an input disk 23. Further outward (to the left in Figure 3) it is provided with an outwardly extending clamping fiange 3I. Still further outwardly and spaced from the said flange 3l, it is externally threaded and is receivable to a pair of clamping nuts 33. Intermediate said flange 3i and nuts 33 the input member 25 is provided with a cylindrical bearing surface 34. The outer end of said input member 25 terminates in a tubular input ferrule within which the end of the input shaft 2I may be positioned. Said shaft 2l may be lsecured therein by any conventional means (not shown) such as a set screw and key. 1

The outputI member 21 is made up of an output disk 31, which is at its inner end, and a coaxially disposed, tubular output ferrule :39 at its outer end, said disk 31 and ferrule 39 being spaced from each other and joined by a short length of coaxially disposed rod 4I.

The input and output disks 29, 31 are spaced from each other and are coaxially 'disposed by a spacer 43. Said spacer 43 is a short length of rod provided with an externally threaded axial peg at one end, threaded into the output disk 31, and with an internally threaded axial cavity at its other end, receivable to the threaded end of a bearing bolt 45 which extends axially through the input member 25. The bearing bolt 45 is sustained coaxially and rotatably within the input member 25 by means of a pair of annular ball bearings 41 which surround said bolt 45 and are disposed within said input member 25.

The entire central assembly (as shown in Figure 3), including the input and output members 25, 21, is `rotatably sustained within the housing H by means of a pair of annular ball bearings 49 which encircle the bearing surface 34 described above (see Figure 1). An annular spacer ring 5I is positioned between the inner races of the bearings 49 and said inner races and s-aid ring 5I are clamped together between the clamping flange 3| and the clamping nuts 33.

The inner ends of two stiff input cam arms are pivotably secured, by means of screws 53, to the input disk 29, at diametrically opposite points thereof. Two similar output cam arms 51 are similarly secured to the output disk 31 by means of screws 59. The outer ends respectively of one of the input cam arms 55 and one of the output cam arms 51 are pvotably joined by a rotatable roller shaft 6I and bolts 63. Said roller shaft 5I is parallel to the axis of the input and output members 25, 21. A cam roller is fastened kto the roller shaft 6I and is positioned to be centered in the channel I5. 'I'he second input cam arm 55 is likewise pivotably joined to the second output cam arm 51 by a second roller shaft 6I provided with a second cam roller 65.

The two cam rollers 65 are at all times urged outwardly away from the axis of the vmembers 25, 21, by means of an arcuate spring B1 which is disposed about the spacer 43 and has its opposite ends pinned respectively to the input and output disks 28, 31 by means of s-pring pins 69. The rollers 65 are adapted to roll on the cam strip I1 mentioned above.

The open end of the housing Il is provided with a circular cover plate 1I which may be of plastic or any other suitable material and which is pierced centrally by an opening through which the output member 21 extends.

The cam adjusting screws i9 are retained in any desired position to which they are adjusted by means of a locking wire 13 which encircles the housing II and passes on opposite sides of successive screws I9 so as to frictionally grip each of them.

In the operation of the coupling just described, an input shaft 2| is secured into the input ferrule 35 and a coaxially disposed output shaft 23 is secured into the output ferrule 39. Ass-uming that all of the cam adjusting screws I9 are in their outermost positions, so thatI their inner ends do not extend into the channel I5, rotation of the input shaft 2I will result in synchronous rotation of the output shaft 23. In suchoperation the spring 61 will cause the rollers 65 to be in their outermost positions at all times and hence the two disks 29, 31 will rotate together in synchronism. The rollers 65 will press outwardly against the cam strip I1 where they make contact with it and will hold said strip against the inner ends of the adjusting screws I9.

However, should some of the cam adjusting screws be screwed inwardly, the cam strip I1 will likewise be moved inwardly by them, thus forcing the rollers E5 inwardly when they pass over such inwardly positioned portions of the said cam strip. Such inward positioning of the rollers 65 results in relative rotation in opposite directions of the input and output disks 29, 31 against the pressure of the spring B1. Thus it is `seen that,` if the cam adjusting screws I9 are adjusted in some predetermined manner (as shown for instance in Figure 2), they will cause the rollers 65 to move inwardly and outwardly as they ride along the cam strip I1 in the channel 1'I5. This will cause the output shaft 23' to rotate with varying nonsynchronous angular velocities Arelative to the rotation ofthe inputshaitizl. "Theioam adjusting screws I5 will be maintained iinzany r-position to which' they lare adjusted ldu'e @to the pressure fof the wire 113.

It 'willbe noted that, although lthe-caml strip .|11

lis .of -less perimeter th-an the channel |25, the Vrollers '65 will always be able torideas `far outwardly as allo-wed by the adjusting fscrews l'Ill-as the cam strip Il need onlybe in contact with s-aidfscrews I5 at twodiametrically oppositetpor- '.tions thereof and the intermediate portions fof :said 'camistrip .I 'I maybe .pulled inwardly ltoform la loam 'of :generally oval configuration. It will thus 'bie .seen .that the said .cam .strip I'Iwill .be asuitable for large variations of the various ad'- .justing -screws I9. The purp'oseof the cam istrip .Il is V`rnerely to provide .a smooth .path '.for fthe rollers .i615 as they 'passirom' one screw If91to1aniother. If said screws I9 are .close enough to- :gethenthe cam strip Il may be eliminated -fentirely.

Relative rotational movements of the input :and Voutput members v25, 2l are possibleas said members are coupled together through the ball'b'ear- 'fings 4 l.

Although-one roller 55 andits linkage is sufcient to operate the coupling just described, :smoother operation is obtained and .inherent balrancing is achieved by providing two such rollers and .their respective linkages. lim-its thecoupling of Figures A1--2 to `cycles of vari- .:ation in angular velocity of not more than 180, -as the adjusting screws I9, on opposite halves of .the housing I I,.must .besimilarlypositioned to simultaneously cooperate with the two cam: rollers 65.

Adjustment through cycles of 360 is possible however in the modied form of my invention shown in Figure 4. 'llhis modiiied form is similar to the simpler 'form already described (Figures 1-3) except that two housing rings 15,'11, spaced from eachother, :are provided (in place of the single housing ring I3 of the rst describediorm) This forms two channels 19, BI (instead of the :single channel I5 of the iirstform). Each of said .channels .1.9, 8l is provided with .a cam-strip, 85 (similar to the lcam strip I'I) and .with two circles of c-am adjusting screws I9 and two locking vwires '13. Two cam rollers 81, 89 (similar to thefrollers 55 already described above) areoset :sothat one rides in the channel -1-9 and theother in the channel 8 I.

The operation of the Inodied coupling of Figure 4 is similar to that already described (in connection with Figures 1 3) except that the screws I9 of one channel 'I9 may be adjusted for a variation cycle extending through 360". The screws I9 of the other channel 8l are then adjusted for the same 360 cycle, but are 180 out of phase. Then, the rollers y'61, 89 are caused to be moved in and out synchronously although riding in two different channels 19, 8 I

It will be noted that, although the input member 25 is rotationally supported relative to the housing II by means of the bearings 49, similar bearings are not provided to support the output member 21. This is merely because the particular embodiments illustrated in the drawings are designed for operation with lan output shaft 23 which is fitted with suitable bearings (not shown) located proximately to the output ferrule 39, and hence additional bearings within the coupling itself are unnecessary. In all embodiments, however, it is preferable that suitable bearing means be provided either inside or outside the coupling This however i keep it from rotating should be provided.

The vpresent invention, being inherentlybalan'c'edand having a minimum of Vreciprocating motion, is capable of withstanding relatively 'high angular velocities, which is requisite in some "applications. Also it will vbe noted that, by the 4use of the cam strip I'I'and other features incorpo- 'rated into'the design of thepresent invention,'the "coupl'ingis reversible, it .operates with a minimum ofbacklash in both directions, and either ofthe members A25,21 may be used iorinput 'or output.

'Examples of 'the use of the .present -invention .are as follows: for ganging potentiometers or other electrical .components when they Ycan not be manufactured to close enough tolerances to i'it the requirements of a `particular electronic .or timing apparatus, for driving a potentiometer, capacitor, etc., where particular cycles of vari;- ation areneeded, for drivingla linear device. non,- linearly, for driving :a nonlinear device linearly, `for translating a rotational .movement ofnonlinear angular velocity into `a rotational movement having a diierent nonlinear angular .velocity, etc.

.in the art.

.For instance, if aninput shaft 2l has a :oon-

fstant angularvelocityand it -is desired-to operate the .output shaft 23 through a cycle of angular velocity variation extending over Athree revolutions, or 1080, and yto have the outputshaftlB rotate the same number of revolutions per unit of .time as the input shaft, it might be accomplished by .interposing a three to one step-down .speed changing mechanism between the input shaft 2| :and the input member 25 (of the form-of invention shown in Figure 4) and Ainterposing a one to `three step-up speed .changingmechanism Vbetween the @output ,member 21 vand .theoutput shaft '23.

The operation then is as follows: for each three revolutions, at a constant angular velocity, of the input shaft 2l, the input member 25 (by means of the step-down mechanism) makes a singlerevolution at a constant angular velocity. The output member 27 then makes one revolution for each revolution of the input member 25 and passes through one cycle of variation in angular velocity during each such revolution, or through each 360. The three to one step-up mechanism then triples the number of revolutions but does not affect the number of cycles of variation in angular velocity per unit of time. Thus the output shaft 23 makes three revolutions for each single revolution of the output member 21 but only passes through one cycle of angular velocity variations While making said three revolutions. Hence the said cycle extends over 1080". The output shaft 23 makes three revolutions while the input shaft 2| is making three revolutions; therefore the number of revolutions per unit of time is the same for both of said shafts 2|, 23.

If it is desired to speed up the revolutions per period of time by 50% and also extend a cycle of variations in angular velocity over three revolutions, or over 1080", this may be accomplished by interposing a two to one step-down speed changing mechanism between the input shaft 2i and the input member 25 and a one to three step-up speed changing mechanism between the output member 21 and the output shaft 23.

The operation then is as follows: for every six revolutions, of constant angular velocity, of the input shaft 2|, the input member 25 (due to the step-down mechanism) makes three revolutions, of constant angular velocity. The output memn ber 21 then makes three revolutions for each three revolutions of the input member 25 and said output member 21 passes through three cycles of variations in angular velocity during said three revolutions. The output shaft 23 then makes nine revolutions for each three revolutions of the output member 21 (due to the step-up mechanism) but only passes through three cycles of angular velocity variations during said nine revolutions, or one cycle for each three revolutions, or 1080".

Thus it is seen that for every six revolutions of the input shaft 2| (at a constant angular velocity), the output shaft 23 makes nine revolutions, an increase of 50% (with a cycle of variations in angular velocity extending over 1080).

Although in the illustrations set forth above, it was assumed that the input shaft 2i had a constant angular velocity, it will be understood that the present invention may also be used when the input shaft has a variable angular velocity.

It will be understood that, although in the embodiment shown the cam strip l1 is outside the rollers 65 and the spring urges said rollers against said cam strip, the invention is broad enough to include other cam and cam follower arrangements. For instance, a cam might be positioned inside the path of a cam follower, so that the ,P follower would cooperate with the outer perim- The invention, however, is to be limited only by the an output shaft, a cup-shaped housing having Y.

a substantially cylindrical wall and a base, the cylindrical wall provided with an inner channel and the base pierced by an axial hole, an input member rotatably positioned through said hole, said input member provided with an input ferrule receivable to said input shaft and an input cam arm pivotably secured eccentricaily to said input member, an output member rotatable relative to said input member, said output member provided with an output ferrule receivable to said output shaft and an output cam arm pivotably secured eccentrically to said output member, a cam follower shaft pivotably joining said cam arms, a cam follower secured to said cam follower shaft, a flexible cam strip positioned at least partly in the channel, a plurality of cam adjusting screws extending through the housing into the channel to limit outward movement of the cam strip, and spring means to keep the cam follower in operative engagement with the cam strip.

2. In a coupling as defined in claim l, wherein there are a second pair of similar cam arms, a second similar cam follower shaft and a second similar cam follower cooperable with the cam strip, said cam followers being disposed on opposite sides of the input and output members.

3. In a coupling as defined in claim l, wherein there are a second pair of similar cam arms, a. second similar cam follower shaft, a second similar channel, a second similar cam strip, a second similar cam follower, a second set of cam adjusting screws, the said cam followers cooperable respectively with the cam strips in the two channels.

GUSTAVE SHAPIRO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNTED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date i 1,968,945 Howie Aug. 7, 1934 2,180,766 Pearson Nov. 2l, 1939 2,230,363 Pash Feb. 4, 1941 2,409,130 Lear Oct. 8, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS y Number Country Date 102,169 Austria Dec. 28,1925 

